


Scarecrow

by lesbianophelia



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types
Genre: College!Everlark, F/M, Modern AU, Secret Santa, Wizard of Oz, fluff fluff fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-21
Updated: 2014-12-21
Packaged: 2018-03-02 17:49:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2820917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbianophelia/pseuds/lesbianophelia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Modern AU. College Aged!Everlark secret santa. Fluff fluff fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scarecrow

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Gentlemama for beta-ing and for Misshoneywell for running the magical writing challenge that is Prompts In Panem.

She and Delly are the only two out of their group of friends who didn’t go away to college. Johanna is living on campus, and while she’s only about half an hour away, it might as well be hours, like Peeta’s school, because Katniss never sees her. Logically, she would think that she and Delly would be the ones who become close while they’re gone. And it’s not that Katniss doesn’t like Delly – she likes her just fine, even if her constant peppiness is slightly more irritating than it is contagious – but they don’t even see each other much.  
  


And the solitude might just get to her – she’s on her own, suddenly, other than her little sister and her mother and the classmates at her community college who never say two words to her – if it wasn’t for Peeta. Sweet Peeta, who didn’t once ask why she wasn’t planning on going away for college when she quietly planned on taking her classes at school. Who texts her often enough to know when she has a test and who knows her schedule just well enough to time his  _good luck today_ texts early enough to make her start her day with a smile but not late enough to come through during the test. It’s almost weird that they weren’t always so close, because at some point between the second and third month without her friends surrounding her, Peeta becomes the one that she wants to talk to about  _everything_ that happens in her life. And about nothing. That’s fine, too. He doesn’t come back for spring break his third year – says that he’d love to but that it isn’t exactly worth the gas – but the others are all on vacation with their families, and she ends up with her phone glued to her hand.

**Katniss:**

_P.S, Wizard of Oz is on._

**(read: 2:45 pm)**

**Peeta:**

_WHAT????_

**Peeta:**

_You’re not playing games with me, are you?_

**Katniss:**

_NO! It just started!! (attached: one image)_

**(Read: 2:50 pm)**

She’s way too lazy to switch to snapchat, so she pulls the guide up on the TV and texts him a picture of it. He’s a little disappointed that they missed the black and white part – she learns that his brothers always skipped that part when they were kids, because they thought it was boring.

**Peeta:**

_how do I always forget what a masterpiece this movie is??_

**Katniss:**

_I don’t know. You’re weird._

**Peeta:**

_it’s a masterpiece. Don’t fight me on this._

**Katniss:**

_lol. I don’t know how you forget, I mean._

**(read: 3:20 pm)**

—

He does come home from school for summer vacation, and even though their schedules don’t line up exactly, all of the time where they’re not working and she’s not at school, they seem to spend together. Sitting on her couch and talking. Watching TV. Basically just doing what they’ve been doing over the phone. But for reasons she can’t quite explain, it’s much better with him there.

And okay, maybe she cries a little bit – but only once he’s gone – at the fact that he hugs her before he leaves and sighs. “See you, scarecrow.”

“Scarecrow?” she asks, confused but not confused enough to pull away.

“Yeah. You’re my scarecrow,” he says, apparently oblivious at the funny little lurch her stomach does at the thought of being  _his_ anything.

(What the hell? When did that start happening?)

“Cause I’ll miss you most of all.”

There’s that lurch again. “Cheesy,” she protests weakly. He laughs.

“I’ll text you when I get back,” he promises. And he does. Though the text is less of an assurance that he’s back safely and more just a picture of her contact. He’s changed her name to  _Scarecrow_  and a complaint that there’s a snowman emoji but not a scarecrow.

**—**

He doesn’t come home for Thanksgiving, and she saw it coming, but she’s still disappointed when his text confirms as much.

So it’s less of a surprise than it should be that he’s the one she launches herself at upon entering Madge’s house for the Christmas party. He stumbles – maybe taken aback by the force of her hug – but then catches himself and holds her against him in a crushing hug that might hurt if she wasn’t reveling in the feeling of being near him again.

“Hey, scarecrow,” he murmurs.

A pathetic little laugh bubbles out of her. The nickname really has grown on her, for some reason.

“Hey,” she returns. “Wait – does that make you Dorothy?”

He laughs, the sound full and rich and so much better than any  _hahaha_ or  _LOL_ that he’s sent since he’s been gone. She wants to say more, but then Johanna is laughing and teasing them and she takes a step back before she can change her mind. She doesn’t think she’s imagining the way that his eyes keep sliding over to her during the party.

“Presents!” Finnick says, clapping his hands like a small child. “Come on!”

Peeta laughs, and when they all settle in on the couch, he ends up beside her. He even goes so far as to pick one of the pillows that Madge’s mom carefully embroidered years ago. It’s been a fixture in their Christmas parties for years. It sits in Peeta’s lap and Katniss glances over at it. His fingers run over the thread, and she’s pretty certain he’s nervous. But why?

“Who’s going to go first?” Madge asks. When they were growing up, she had this ridiculous set of rules every time they play Secret Santa. Now, no one lets her be in charge of it. Finnick found a website that would email everyone’s assignments to them. But Madge still has the biggest house, and since she’s an only child, there’s plenty of room underneath the Undersee’s spinning Christmas tree for their presents to go once they’re all there for the party.

Johanna goes first, pulling her gift from under the tree and unwrapping it eagerly, paper shredded in the process. Peeta glances over at Katniss when the paper falls away to reveal a  _bath set_. Someone always ends up with a bath set – and it’s always from Madge, who has good intentions but also doesn’t realize that no one wants a bath set that cost the whole twenty five buck limit they implemented. “Madge,” Johanna guesses, but she’s grinning. Maybe it’s a good gift for her. It’s certainly not something that Katniss thinks she would pick for herself.

Thanks to the rules, Madge is next. She ends up with tons of books of sheet music for her piano – a gift from Delly, who loves to do her shopping at the thrift shop downtown. The old worn pages are an easy giveaway. And Delly laughs and shyly adds that she hopes that Madge will like them. Peeta leans over and presses his shoulders into hers, as if he’s falling into her. She leans to the side, grateful that she’s on the seat with the armrest, and then pushes back into him. He laughs.

Annie bought Delly a beautiful sweater that’s exactly her style, and Delly holds it to her chest, so completely touched by it that it’s almost funny. “This is _beautiful_!” she says. Katniss remembers the year that she got Delly. She’s so easy to please. She guesses wrong, though. Thinks it’s from Peeta, who shakes his head.

“I’m not  _that_ fashionable, Dell,” Peeta says. Annie is her next guess, but it’s Peeta’s turn to open, and Katniss’ stomach flops nervously as she watches him look at the box. She spent a ridiculous amount of time wrapping it. Curling ribbon and picking paper.

His eyebrows lift, and she  _knows_ she’s been caught when his shoulder touches hers again, only for a second. As always, he’s careful with the paper, folding it and setting it to the side even as Finnick and Johanna tease him for it.

“Katniss.”

It’s not a guess, exactly. He just breathes her name when he sees the gift, and she feels her cheeks heating up. She didn’t spend her full twenty-five bucks on the DVD, of course, but as soon as she got the email that said that she’d be buying a secret Santa gift for Peeta, she knew that she had to get him a copy of The Wizard Of Oz. They both admitted to never getting around to buying it on DVD and not being able to find their VHS players, let alone the tape of the movie.

She put other stuff in the box. Zebra cakes and twinkies, all kinds of things that he admitted to become addicted to during his time away from his mother and father – where he didn’t get blame, at least in part, for putting bakeries like theirs out of business. But it’s the DVD that really seems to get to him.

“Well, was it you?” Annie presses.

“Yeah,” she says, and Finnick kneels under the tree, smiling like a man with a secret as he looks for the present marked for her. “I thought. You know.”

“It’s perfect,” he says, and he looks so sincere that she doesn’t doubt it for a moment. “Thank you, scarecrow.”

She shrugs. The gift Finnick presents her with is about as nicely wrapped as the one she brought was, with green wrapping paper that’s more forest green than it is Christmas green. It’s two gifts, really, wrapped separately and held together with the red ribbon that presses them against each other. She unties the ribbon even though it’s so tight that her fingers almost hurt. It might be easier to slide the presents out, but something tells her she’ll want to save the wrapping.

She knows who it’s from as soon as she opens the smal one. A CD that she’s only ever told Peeta about. One that she used to listen to with her father that got lost in their old car when her mother forgot to empty the CD player before she traded it in. Her fingers trace the familiar cover, and she feels so stupid for her how close she is to tears just looking at it.

Peeta’s shoulder bumps hers again, and she remembers that she has an audience, so she puts it to the side and goes back to unwrapping. She can’t help herself but to laugh when she sees the second part to her gift. A DVD of The Wizard of Oz. She turns to look at him, and he’s barely able to contain the excitement on his face.

“Peeta,” she laughs. “Thank you. It’s perfect. Really.”

He wraps his arm around her, pulling her into a one armed hug against his chest. The others look confused, but she’s nowhere near willing to share this with them. They can wonder all they want.

“Wait – how did we get each other?” she asks, turning to look at him. He doesn’t let go, but his eyebrows do draw together. “Wasn’t the website supposed to make sure that didn’t happen?”

Finnick  _laughs_. There are tears in his eyes by the time he composes himself, and Peeta’s lips are set in a hard line. “Finnick,” he says. “What’s so funny?”

“Well, I didn’t think I was gonna get  _caught_ ,” he says. “But, yeah. Maybe I took advantage of my position as administrator, just … just a tiny little bit.”

Her mouth opens and closes a few times. “ _Why_?” she hisses.

“Because  _look_ at the two of you!” he says. “You love each other.”

Katniss sputters, and Finnick holds a hand up to stop her.

“Look. I’m not saying what way. But don’t you owe it to each other to find out?” he asks. “I mean, god. You’ve been how many miles away? And  _inseparable_ anyway.”

“Ugh. Why am I friends with you?” Katniss asks, because the alternative is to go home and she doesn’t want to leave Peeta alone. Especially not with the way that the others are just barely hiding their amusement and she’s starting to feel the rising sensation of  _us against them_.

“Because he’s observant?” Peeta asks.

“What?” she asks.

He blushes beet red, and she thinks of how bold he’s been in his texts these last couple of weeks, whether with the winky faces in his texts or the comments on the pictures Prim has tagged her in on Facebook, calling her  _beautiful_.  (But, like, in a friendly way. At least, she thought so. “ _There’s my beautiful best friend_.” That kind of thing – that he’s never posted on Delly’s pictures. Oh. God.)

“Okay. Well. Kinda didn’t want to do this in front of everyone,” he says. So she stands up and reaches her hand down to help him up. They duck out of the room – not going far, since it’s not somewhere either of them are comfortable even after countless Christmas parties. But into the other room.

“Better?” she asks. “Or worse?”

“You sound like my eye doctor,” he teases. “Better. I guess. This is harder than it should be. Um, I guess I just kinda hoped, you know. Maybe I’d be able to work up the courage to say something while I was here. And you knew I was gonna come back later – I know you’ve always said you never wanted to do a long distance relationship. It’s just that …” he trails off. She swallows hard. _Relationship_? What does this even mean?

“Say something?” she asks. “Like what?”

Thankfully, no one comes in. She’s not sure she’d be able to deal with this coming from anyone else.

“Like that I’ve had a crush on you since we were six?” he asks. He sounds almost hopeful. “I … this is easier over text.”

“What is?”

“Saying what I’m really thinking,” he says. “And I might have – might have made the mistake of asking Finnick for advice.”

“So he took matters into his own hands?” she guesses.

Peeta looks almost miserable when he nods. “You look uncomfortable. I’m sorry. It’s just – Where was I? Right. Looking for the courage to … ask you out.

She surprises them both by laughing.

“What?” he asks.

“Nothing,” she says. “It’s just funny. You’re looking for courage and I’m your scarecrow.”

He laughs, too. “So does that make me your cowardly lion?” he asks, eyebrows raising. And then, for a moment, he looks cautious. “Or. You know. Your … anything?”

She nods, and then, before she can talk herself out of it, she rises up on tiptoe and presses her lips against his, just for a moment. “Mistletoe,” she mumbles, flicking her chin up towards the doorway that they came through. “Finnick may not be the only planner.”

He looks at her, absolutely stunned, and then ducks his head, meeting her lips again. Her hands find the mop of blond curls on his head and she revels in the feeling of finally getting to touch them. (And realizes with a start just how many times she’s  _thought_ of running her fingers through that hair of his. Where did that even come from?)

“You’re my favorite,” she informs him. He laughs. “No, seriously. Even if you are a victim of disorganized thinking.”

He doesn’t let go of her. He does, however, straighten up and hug her against him again, just like he did before. Though, this time, he lifts her up off of the ground.

“Come on. Help me out. What was the next part? Confusing bravery with wisdom?” she asks, kicking her feet as they dangle but not wanting to get down.

Peeta laughs, pressing a noisy kiss into her cheek as he sets her back on her feet. “I don’t know. We’ll watch it later.”

“With subtitles?” she asks. That’s one of the few things they disagree on – he thinks that the captioning is distracting, but she practically needs it to enjoy a movie.

“Anything you want, scarecrow.”  


End file.
